wers of what seemed to be a
palace, built of snow-white marble, and rising in the midst of a grove of
lofty trees. The thick branches of these trees stretched across the front
of the edifice, and more than half concealed it, although, from the
portion which he saw, Ulysses judged it to be spacious and exceedingly
beautiful, and probably the residence of some great nobleman or prince. A
blue smoke went curling up from the chimney, and was almost the
pleasantest part of the spectacle to Ulysses. For, from the abundance of
this smoke, it was reasonable to conclude that there was a good fire in
the kitchen, and that, at dinnertime, a plentiful banquet would be served
up to the inhabitants of the palace, and to whatever guests might happen
to drop in.

With so agreeable a prospect before him, Ulysses fancied that he could not
do better than to go straight to the palace gate, and tell the master of
it that there was a crew of poor shipwrecked mariners, not far off, who
had eaten nothing for a day or two save a few clams and oysters, and would
therefore be thankful for a little food. And the prince or nobleman must
be a very stingy curmudgeon, to be sure, if, at least, when his own dinner
was over, he would not bid them welcome to the broken victuals from the
table.

Pleasing himself with this idea, King Ulysses had made a few steps in the
direction of the palace, when there was a great twittering and chirping
from the branch of a neighboring tree. A moment afterwards, a bird came
flying towards him, and hovered in the air, so as almost to brush his face
with its wings. It was a very pretty little bird, with purple wings and
body, and yellow legs, and a circle of golden feathers round its neck, and
on its head a golden tuft, which looked like a king's crown in miniature.
Ulysses tried to catch the bird. But it fluttered nimbly out of his reach,
still chirping in a piteous tone, as if it could have told a lamentable
story, had it only been gifted with human language. And when he attempted
to drive it away, the bird flew no farther than the bough of the next
tree, and again came fluttering about his head, with its doleful chirp, as
soon as he showed a purpose of going forward.

"Have you anything to tell me, little bird?" asked Ulysses.

And he was ready to listen attentively to whatever the bird might
communicate; for at the siege of Troy and elsewhere he had known such odd
things to happen that he would not have considered